Catering with Love

Renee' "Three Sisters Catering" my sister Jennifer said, her face beaming as she raised her glass of champagne. May it be a smashing success. "And make us happy," my twin, Suzanne, added as our glasses came together with a tink. "Allow us to share our gifts with others," I said, my eyes tearing up as I looked at the happy faces of my two favorite people in the world. "Salude," we chimed, then tipped the pretty flutes back. I sighed as the chilled bubbly liquid trailed down my throat. Champagne taste happy, like celebration, and drinking it I just knew we'd made the right choice in opening our own business. Even if our Aunt Cathy told us we were nuts, or the guy who ran the restaurant on the corner glared at us everytime we wwalked by ... I felt it in my gut. I'd always dreamed of not only cooking and baking for a living, but also of doing it my own way, in my own buisness. It just so happened thaat my sisters were my best friends who just so happened to share the same dream

Hugging her had probably been a bad idea, but, damn, it sure felt good. I started out innocently enough. I really had stepped into Three Sisters Catering with the intention of begging, pleading and bartering for a party for Amora. Then she had stepped out from the back ... the sexiest brunette in a chef's coat I'd ever seen. And the way her curves had fit snuggly against me, her head resting perectly just below my chin ... Well, let's just say my body hadn't reacted to a woman in that was since well before my wife left me. I'd ended up stuttering and stumblinga my way out of there. I think I winked for God's sake. What a tool. The important thing was that she's said yes, they'd consider catering Amors's party. I'd been trying so hard to give Amora everything she needed since Kayla had walked out of our lives. I couldn't always give her what she wanted monetarily, but she knew she was the most important thing in my life, and I really wanted to make this birthday special. It was t

"You want a snack, Mor?" I asked as my daughter settled at the kitchen table to do her homework. We had a strict do your homwork first thing after school policy, so our evenings were with usually the same. Amora would walk the two blocks from her school to mine, we'd ride home togther, and she'd do her homework while I make dinner. After, she usually caught up with one of her friends while I graded papers or worked on lesson plans, and before bed we'd watch a couple episodes of whatever show we were binge-watching. Currently, we were on 'Heartland' which we both were loving. "Sure," Amora replied with a half shrug as she started on her math worksheet. I smiled at the back of her head, thinking how great it was that we were finally in a place where we were both content, and my daughter was happy. Kayla's abandonment had hit us both hard, and Kayla had taken quite a while to recover. I'd spent many nights holding her while she cried herself to sleep. It was hard for me, a thirty-ye

The next couple hours were a whirlwind of giggles, tiny sandwiches and enough sugar to ensure that I was in for a long night. Renee' was amazing. Not only were her decorations on point, and her food was delicious, she'd kept the girls entertained and had successfully given my little girl the party of her dreams. I hadn't seen Amora smile this much since her mother left, and I was eternally grateful to Renee' for that. If I hadn't already planned on asking Renee' out, and I guess I sort of had, even though we'd been interrupted, I defintely would have wanted to take her out after seeing interact with my daughter and her five boisterous friends. Now the tea party was over and the girls had all escaped to the backyard to jump on the trampoline while Renee' and I cleaned up. She was currently boxing up the props she'd used for the tea party photo booth, while I was slyly popping leftover macaroons in my mouth. "I saw that," Renee' said with a chuckle. I turned, mout full and a sheepis

I was finishing up my lesson plans for when we moved on to 'Pride and Prejudice' next week, but my eyes kept drifting up to the clock. Much like my students, I couldn't wait for the bell to ring, signaling the end of the school day. Normally, I stick around after school, grade some papers, straighten my room and prepare for the next day, but today all I could think about was picking up Renee' at three thirty. I couldn't remember the last time I was this excited about anything. Sure, it was only coffee, but it didn't matter what we were doing, I couldn't wait to see her again. The bell rang and I jumped from my chair, pushing through my students as I tried to beat them out the door. "Where is the fire, Mr. B?" "Sorry ... Sorry," I muttered as I reached the hallway, then started speed walking toward the exit closest to the teacher's parking lot. "John." I bit off the curse before it passed my lips, then turned to see who was currently stalling my swift exit. "OH, hey, Rebecca. Wh